Dryden v. Dryden

• Decision Date: 14 April 1959
• Docket Number: No. 16143.,16143.
• Citation: 265 F.2d 870
• Parties: William J. DRYDEN, Appellant, v. Margaret B. DRYDEN, Theodore Loving Dryden and David L. Dryden, Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

265 F.2d 870 (1959)

William J. DRYDEN, Appellant, v. Margaret B. DRYDEN, Theodore Loving Dryden and David L. Dryden, Appellees.

No. 16143.

United States Court of Appeals Eighth Circuit.

April 14, 1959.

Ralph M. Jones, Kansas City, Mo. (Roy P. Swanson, John C. Thurlo, and Blackmar, Swanson, Midgley, Jones & Eager, Kansas City, Mo., on the brief), for appellant.

Rufus Burrus, Independence, Mo., for appellee Margaret B. Dryden.

Before SANBORN, JOHNSEN, and VAN OOSTERHOUT, Circuit Judges.

VAN OOSTERHOUT, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from final order dismissing Counts I, III, and IV of plaintiff's complaint for want of federal jurisdiction.¹ Jurisdiction is based upon diversity of citizenship. Plaintiff is a citizen² of the District of Columbia. All defendants are citizens of Missouri. Each count alleges that the amount in controversy exceeds $3,000.

Plaintiff in the various counts of his complaint asserts claims against real estate alleged to have been acquired by him as heir of his father, L. T. Dryden, and his mother, Mary Dryden. L. T. Dryden was married three times. He first married Carrie Dryden. Defendant Theodore Dryden is the sole issue of said marriage. L. T. Dryden's second marriage was to Mary Dryden, now deceased. The plaintiff and defendant David Dryden were the issue of that marriage. L. T. Dryden at the time of his death was married to defendant Margaret Dryden, who survived him. No children were born as the result of this marriage. L. T. Dryden died intestate on December 9, 1957, leaving as his heirs his three sons, above named, and his widow, Margaret Dryden.

In Count I plaintiff alleges that his mother, Mary Dryden, received a substantial inheritance from her father; that the proceeds of such inheritance, belonging solely to Mary Dryden, were, with her consent, used by L. T. Dryden to purchase certain real estate, referred to in the record as Lots A and B; that none of L. T. Dryden's funds went into the purchase; that title to the real estate was taken in the name of L. T. Dryden; that L. T. Dryden became trustee of said land for the benefit of Mary Dryden and her heirs; that plaintiff and David Dryden are the sole heirs of Mary Dryden and that under the law of Missouri they are entitled to said land. In Count II, which is not directly involved in this appeal, plaintiff asserts that L. T. Dryden invested large sums of money belonging to the plaintiff as heir of his mother in real estate, described in the record as Lot C, taking title thereto in his own name, although he furnished no part of the consideration; that L. T. Dryden became trustee of said land for the plaintiff, and that plaintiff is entitled to be adjudged the sole owner of Lot C. In Count III plaintiff prays for the partition of land known as Lot D. Plaintiff alleges that his father, L. T. Dryden, died seized of said land, and that by virtue of the laws of descent in Missouri title thereto is vested one-half in Margaret Dryden and one-sixth each in plaintiff, David Dryden, and Theodore Dryden. In Count IV plaintiff asked for alternative relief in the event he is not given the relief he asks for in Counts I and II. Plaintiff alleges that if his claims for relief made in Counts I and II are not established he at least inherited a one-sixth interest from his father, L. T. Dryden, in Lots A, B, and C involved in Counts I and II; that title to said property should be established in the same persons and in the same partition and upon the same basis as urged in Count III; and that partition of said real estate should be ordered.

Defendant Margaret Dryden filed no answer to Counts I, III, and IV of the complaint, but, instead, filed a motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction. Theodore Dryden in his answer denied plaintiff's allegations supporting Counts I and II and prayed for the dismissal of such counts. The answer admitted the allegations of Counts III and IV and joined in plaintiff's prayer for partition. David Dryden in his answer did not controvert any of the allegations of Counts I, III, and IV and joined plaintiff in his prayer for relief as to each of said counts. He denied the allegations of Count II not here involved. The trial court realigned David as a plaintiff as to Count I, and realigned David and Theodore as plaintiffs as to Counts III and IV. Such realignments destroyed diversity of citizenship between the parties as to Counts I, III, and IV. The trial court dismissed said counts for want of jurisdiction. This appeal followed.

Upon the face of the pleadings the requisite diversity of citizenship appears between the plaintiff and the defendants. The plaintiff is a citizen of the District of Columbia and all defendants are citizens of Missouri. However, it is well established that the designation of parties as plaintiff or defendant in the pleadings is not controlling in determining jurisdiction. The applicable law is stated by the Supreme Court in City of Indianapolis v. Chase National Bank, 314 U.S. 63, 69-70, 62 S.Ct. 15, 17, 86 L.Ed. 47, as follows:

"* * * To sustain diversity jurisdiction there must exist an `actual\', Helm v. Zarecor, 222 U.S. 32, 36, 32 S.Ct. 10, 11, 56 L.Ed. 77, `substantial\', Niles-Bement-Pond Co. v. Iron Moulders\' Union, 254 U.S. 77, 81, 41 S.Ct. 39, 41, 65 L.Ed. 145, controversy between citizens of different states, all of whom on one side of the controversy are citizens of different states from all parties on the other side. Strawbridge v. Curtiss, 3 Cranch. 267, 2 L.Ed. 435. Diversity jurisdiction cannot be conferred upon the federal courts by the parties\' own determination of who are plaintiffs and who defendants. It is our duty, as it is that of the lower federal courts, to `look beyond the pleadings, and arrange the parties according to their sides in the dispute\'. City of Dawson v. Columbia Ave. Sav. Fund, Safe Deposit, Title & Trust Co., 197 U.S. 178, 180, 25 S.Ct. 420, 421, 49 L.Ed. 713. Litigation is the pursuit of practical ends, not a game of chess. Whether the necessary `collision of interest\', Dawson v. Columbia Ave. Sav. Fund, Safe Deposit Title & Trust Co., supra, 197 U.S. at page 181, 25 S.Ct. at page 421, 49 L.Ed. 713, exists, is therefore not to be determined by mechanical rules. It must be ascertained from the `principal purpose of the suit\', East Tennessee V. & G. R. Co. v. Grayson, 119 U.S. 240, 244, 7 S.Ct. 190, 192, 30 L.Ed. 382, and the `primary and controlling matter in dispute\', Merchants\' Cotton Press Co. v. Insurance Co., 151 U.S. 368, 385, 14 S.Ct. 367, 373, 38 L.Ed. 195. These familiar doctrines governing the alignment of parties for purposes of determining diversity of citizenship have consistently guided the lower federal courts and this Court."

In Thomson v. Butler, 8 Cir., 136 F.2d 644, 647, this court says:

"* * * For purposes of testing the jurisdiction of a federal court on the basis of diversity of citizenship, it is immaterial how the parties may have been designated in the pleadings, since the court must align them for jurisdictional purposes on the basis of their actual legal interests and the apparent results to them if the object sought to be accomplished by the litigation is successful. * * *"

To the same general effect, see Thomas v. Anderson, 8 Cir., 223 F. 41; 3 Moore's Federal Practice, paragraph 19.03, page 2105; Annotation, 132 A.L.R. 188.

Plaintiff in support of his contention that there should be no realignment of parties relies upon cases such as Franz v. Franz, 8 Cir., 15 F.2d 797, and Belding v. Gaines, C.C.E.D.Ark., 37 F. 817. For example, in the Franz case, the court, after stating that the plaintiff is seeking to establish only his own undivided interest in which he alone is interested, continues (at page 800 of 15 F.2d):

"* * * In suits respecting undivided interests in property between the several owners and claimants thereof, two or more of the parties frequently seek the same kind of relief against each other respecting their separate interests, and make common cause against one defendant who claims the whole. In such a case, the parties who make common cause against one defendant need not necessarily be aligned as parties plaintiff. * * *"

Our present case is distinguishable from the Franz case, supra, as there the plaintiff sought to establish his own undivided interest, while here plaintiff asserts in Count I that he and David Dryden became the sole owners of the real estate and prays that he and David be adjudged the sole owners of the property. David Dryden in his answer admitted the allegations and joined in the prayer. Moreover, the Franz case was decided before the City of Indianapolis and the Thomson cases here before discussed. In the light of the holdings of those cases we are satisfied that the Franz decision cannot be followed in situations where separate holders of undivided interests make common cause against parties who dispute the validity of the basis upon which their common claims rest and assert adverse interests in the property in litigation.

When the law, as above set out, is applied to the factual situation presented by Count I of the complaint, it is perfectly clear that the interests of plaintiff and defendant David Dryden in said cause of action are identical. Each is seeking to establish that he is a beneficiary of the same constructive trust. The claim of each depends upon the establishment of the trust. On the other hand, the rights of the defendants, Theodore Dryden and Margaret Dryden, are dependent upon defeating the establishment of the trust, since if the alleged trust is established they have no interest in the property involved in Count I.

We are convinced that the court did not commit error or abuse its discretion in realigning David Dryden as a plaintiff in Count I. Such alignment placed residents of Missouri on both sides of the Count I controversy. Count I was therefore properly dismissed for want of jurisdiction.

The question of realignment of parties as to...